Religious leaders must break their silence

Jul 30, 2014 Letters

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Dear Editor,
On July 24, the Baltimore Sun carried a commentary, which stated, “Gender violence causes more death and disability among women aged 15 to 44 in the U.S. than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war.
“Currently our military and universities are actively seeking solutions to prevent and respond to this violence within their respective institutions.” The reference was to the United States but the appeal is international and certainly relevant to Guyana. In fact, in Guyana, neither the military nor the university, is actually actively seeking solutions and thus this appeal must resonate with them as well.
For us in The Caribbean Voice, this appeal is critical because suicide is related to gender in a huge way. Oftentimes, females are murdered by their partners, who then commit suicide. Also, females are routinely abused by their partners, and this often leads to an escalation of violence as well as suicide.
The authors of the Baltimore Sun commentary, Jim Wallis (president and founder of Sojourners); Amy Gopp (director of member relations and pastoral care at Church World Service); and Rick Santos (president and CEO of IMA World Health) referenced a recently released report, Broken Silence: A Call for Churches to Speak Out, based on a LifeWay Research survey of 1,000 U.S. Protestant pastors.
The authors state, “According to the report, U.S. faith leaders seriously underestimate the prevalence of sexual and domestic violence experienced by people within their congregations. They also lack the tools to address it in constructive and helpful ways.
The good news is that more than eight in 10 said they would take appropriate action to reduce sexual and domestic violence if they had the training and resources to do so.”
As in the US, there is no doubt that faith leaders in Guyana also “seriously underestimate the prevalence of sexual and domestic violence experienced by people within their congregations” and “lack the tools to address it in constructive and helpful ways”.
We do certainly hope that the vast majority, if not all, however, “would take appropriate action to reduce sexual and domestic violence if they have the training and resources to do so”.
So what can faith leaders do to reduce sexual and domestic violence? Here’s what Baltimore Sun says: First, they need to get a firmer grip on reality. Faith leaders need to fully understand that domestic and sexual violence occurs in all communities worldwide, including their own congregations.  Ignoring this sin does not make it go away; it gives silent consent.
Faith leaders need to build relationships with the resources in their local communities that protect and support victims and survivors.
A faith leader’s vocation is to nurture faith and support a victim’s spiritual well being, but his or her physical or emotional well-being should be guided by professionals trained in domestic and sexual violence.
Faith leaders need to seek out domestic and sexual violence training. Training is indeed critical because a little knowledge in this area can be more dangerous than no knowledge at all.  Research has indicated that abused women who seek help from untrained clergy typically find themselves in a worse situation than before.
The top priority in sexual and domestic violence should be to ensure the immediate safety of victims or potential victims. Though this is common knowledge among those in the health community, it may be countercultural for U.S. (and Guyana) clergy — especially those who hold firmly to values that view family matters as private, place a high priority on family “stability,” strictly prohibit divorce, practise “male headship” and submission of women, or who see untrained counseling as part of their pastoral duty.
In keeping with these commonly held values, a large majority (62 percent) of pastors in our survey say they have responded to sexual or domestic violence by providing couples with marriage counseling — which the health community widely acknowledges as a potentially dangerous or even lethal response for a victim (as it, no doubt, also is in Guyana).
With a firm base of knowledge beneath them, faith leaders must speak out on sexual and domestic violence. Nearly two-thirds of pastors surveyed preach or speak once a year or less a about the issue. Ten percent never mention it at all.
Sexual and domestic violence inflicts deep emotional, physical, and spiritual harm on those who endure it.
Norkah Carter
Devv-Ramdas Daniel
Judy Deveaux
Annan Boodram
Bibi Ahamad
Collis Nicholson
Anna Addie Odyssey
Donna Jennifer Ross
Pandit Sharma Daneshwar
Pandit Amintnarine Rabindradat
Shoba Jagnanan

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